I see what you did there. And I like it.
I hope everyone had a lovely Solemnity yesterday. We did!
I really try to incorporate traditions, historical and/or from other cultures into our liturgical feasts. But there don't seem to be all that many traditions associated with the Assumption. All I've been able to find was that it's the traditional day of the
Blessing of the Fruits and Herbs. So, I based our dinner menu on that. Also, since it's a Solemnity, I thought there should be meat. It just seems right.
So, I made herbed steaks, grilled Parmesan corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, bread, and for dessert, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries.
I started with fresh herbs from the garden (which I forgot to bring with us to Mass, so they just got sprinkled with Lourdes water here!) and made basil pesto, rosemary and onion crunch, and blue cheese and parsley toppings. The husband grilled the steaks and then I put the toppings on. They turned out great!
The corn is a recipe my MIL sent me and which I just love. Spread fresh corn on the cob with mayo (I do not like mayo, but it works better than butter in this recipe, and you really can't taste it.) then roll in grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle with paprika. Cover in foil and cook on upper rack of grill for 30 minutes or until cooked. Voila! Delicious.
Decorations were limited to putting all our little Mary statues on the lazy susan, which turned out to be super infuriating to Frankie, who was not allowed to have them during dinner.
Dessert was homemade whipped cream on not homemade angel food cake (it was nearly 100 degrees here today, so "no" on the baking) with fresh strawberries. Yum.
You're probably heard about the fire that destroyed the home of the Davidson family of
Little Flowers Press, well, my bloggy friend Heather is having a fundraiser for them.
For more information, go check out
MamaCreates, where you'll find links to lovely things you can buy from Origami Owl and Lila Rose, all for a good cause!
In an instance of science finally getting around to proving something we kinda already knew . . . I enjoyed the flurry of coverage this week about
a study out of Ohio State University that has shown that having many sibling makes a person less likely to end up divorced.
It makes perfect sense to me. I am fortunate that my parents set a great example of marriage for my sister and me, but with there only being two of us, it was really easy to just live our own lives. I had my own room and my own stuff and my own friends. When I got married, it was an adjustment to learn to consider the way that another person does things.
But
my kids do not have their own stuff or their own rooms or their own friends. They have to share everything. They are learning how to compromise and how to subjugate their own whims and desires for the greater good. (And a sleeping baby is ALWAYS the greater good.)
It's easy to see how that might translate into an easier time adjusting to married life and a long happy marriage. Here's hoping anyway!
And have you seen this yet?
You're not going to believe it, but Ashton Kutcher of all people has some pretty inspiring thoughts to share with his teen aged fans.
Good for him for using a platform like the Teen Choice Awards to lay some truth on people. Also, it turns out Ashton isn't his real name . . .
Have you ever wondered what a romantic comedy pairing the Tenth Doctor and Merida might be like?
Well, wonder no more.
If you're a grownup in the mood for a romantic comedy, The Decoy Bride will probably do the trick. And, really, it's THE DOCTOR and a girl with an awesome Scottish accent (and the rival girl, of course). How could you resist? The setting is lovely and decency is maintained by all. And perhaps most importantly, it's on Netflix streaming.
Buuuuuuut . . . if you watch
that, Netflix just might think that you would also like to watch Casanova. And you shouldn't. I mean, of course not, right? But it was David Tennant and Masterpiece Theater and there wasn't any swearing or nudity so I watched it for way too long.
But I finally came to my senses and stopped. It's not a nice show.
That gal on the left is a girl in real life, but in the movie she's a boy who's just dressed as a girl. Plus old Peter O'Toole is super creepy in it. And David Tennant wears very fake-looking blue contacts. He looks like an alien.
But you know what
is a nice show? Duck Dynasty.
I'd heard about it, but we don't have cable, so I hadn't seen it until this summer. I've only seen a couple of episodes, but what I saw had a very pro-family vibe. And it showed the family saying grace before a meal, which I thought was nice.
It's also hilarious.
I was never comfortable with the Kids and Counting show, because I felt like the Duggar family was being made a spectacle of and didn't know it. These guys are being made a spectacle of, but they're in on the joke.
